ACM – Advanced Currency Markets Raises Additional Share Capital
Tue Oct 20, 2009
GENEVA - The shareholders of ACM (www.ac-markets.com), the top Swiss online currency trading firm, endorsed an additional capital raise of 10 million CHF during their latest general assembly.

The capital increase raises ACM’s overall share capital to 30 million CHF; a move financed solely by existing shareholders. The step solidifies ACM’s place as the most capitalized Forex broker in Switzerland.

Reinforcing the framework surrounding the firm’s banking licence, the enlargement demonstrates ACM’s commitment to autonomy, strength and durability.

“The increase guarantees our independence while freeing ACM to dedicate further resources to both enlarging our investment offering and tackling new markets” said Lloyd La Marca, CEO and co-founder of ACM.

From its inception, ACM (www.ac-markets.com) has grown to meet the needs of its expanding client base – founded in Geneva, the company now maintains offices in Zürich, New York, Dubai and Montevideo. The Swiss firm offers efficient and affordable FX trading with no dealing-desk intervention to private individuals as well as institutional clients.

www.ac-markets.com

Hi everyone

Here you have the e-mail I got a few minutes ago from Mr. Peter Furrer, CEO at GFX Group (www.forex.ch)

I want to thank Mr. Furrer for his quick feed-back and for being there for me during all this years.

Francesc

…………………………………………
Dear Francesc

Thank you for your mail.

First of all, let me confirm to you that the GFX’ board has decided to cease its business as a Forex broker and that the statement in your blog about GFX having a problem with its banking license is not correct. As a matter of fact none of the applicants for a Swiss brokerage license have gotten a response from the authorities as of today.

GFX has informed all clients about its board decision and funds are returned as we communicate. If you wish to give me the name of traders that have contacted you in this regards, we will be happy to get in touch with them to reassure them of the safety of their funds.

I also wish to thank all our clients that have contacted us to tell us how much they appreciated working with us and I want to assure that we will continue to provide our professional service until all client funds have been returned.

Kind regards
Peter Furrer
…………………………………………

Hi everyone

I just got a confirmation today from a Forex.ch (GFX Group) representative that the company was ceasing its brokerage activities at the end of September, so basically today.

Official statement of the company is that the ceasing of its activities is a board’s decision and they assure clients will receive their money back.

In a response to an open letter I sent to Swiss brokers that were working with us back in April 2008, Mr. Peter Furrer, CEO at GFX Group stated that they were applying to banking license in Switzerland to keep in the business as banking license is now mandatory in the country to offer FX brokerage services.

Open letter to FXstreet’s Swiss brokers - GFX Group S.A (Forex.ch) response

I’m afraid that they must have had problems with their banking license and for this reason they are withdrawing from business.

I’m going to try to contact Mr. Furrer to get more info.

I’ll keep you posted

Francesc

Hi everyone

Here you have the top10 reports in FXstreet.com for August 2009. I must highlight that number 5th position is for an Education report for the first time ever as far as we known. Congratulations 4xLounge!.

I also must welcome in the top10 to MPTrader.com, ForexHound.com and InnerFX. Financial Trend Analysis keeps the first position, followed by Master the Markets and our Valeria Bednarik

Francesc

August Top10 Reports
1. Today’s Trading Signals by Financial Trend Analysis [24,697]
http://www.fxstreet.com/technical/analysis-reports/todays-trading-signals/

2. Currency Trading Majors Pairs by Master the Markets [16,573]
http://www.fxstreet.com/technical/forex-strategy/currency-trading-majors-pairs/

3. Currency Majors Technical Perspective by Valeria Bednarik [15,396]
http://www.fxstreet.com/technical/analysis-reports/currency-majors-technical-perspective/

4. Daily Options Intelligence Report by Interactive Brokers LLC [14,364]
http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/daily-options-intelligence-report/

5. Forex 30-day Trading Program by 4xLounge [9,713]
http://www.fxstreet.com/education/forex-basics/forex-30day-trading-program/

6. The Mid-Day Minute by MPTrader.com [7,408]
http://www.fxstreet.com/technical/market-view/the-midday-minute/

7. Forex Technical Report by ForexHound.com [7,042]
http://www.fxstreet.com/technical/analysis-reports/the-forex-technical-report/

8. Daily Recommended Trades by InnerFX [5,952]
http://www.fxstreet.com/technical/forex-forecasts/daily-recommended-trades/

9. Chart of the Day by FX Solutions (James Chen - ITC 2009) [5,541]
http://www.fxstreet.com/technical/analysis-reports/chart-of-the-day/

10. Top Fundamental Stories by ecPulse.com (New contributor) [5,201]
http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/analysis-reports/top-fundamental-stories/

Update on Learning Center:

Learning Center - Unit B - Analytical Tools [24,508]
http://www.fxstreet.com/education/learning-center/unit-2/

Hi everyone

I’m terrible happy and proud today to share with you the incredible performance FXstreet’s Forex News are having since we took over the news elaboration at the beginning of the year.

http://www.fxstreet.com/news/

Let me explain….

FXstreet’s Forex News has always been a very important section for our site. For many years, we had a very complete news feed from AFX News, Reuters and Dow Jones. With those providers, the section reached an all-time high of 506,000 page views on January 2008.

AFX News was bought then by Thomson and then bought Reuters or vice versa, they changed the feed and its quality fell abruptly. Also, Dow Jones is changing the feed too, so we had to move and fast, deciding to get rid of Thomson/Reuters news and give ourselves a shot and create our own 100% 24/5 Forex focused feed.

The first consequence of that decision was a heavy fall in news traffic, but with the hard work of a great team lead by Sandra Garcia, FXstreet’s Forex news section started to steadily pick up its numbers a few months ago till reaching in August - YES IN THE MIDDLE OF SUMMER BREAK! - the second best all-time high touching 503,000 page views.

Unfortunately this numbers will be hit in a few months when we cancel our agreement with Dow Jones as we are not interested in the new feed they are putting together, but instead we will increase the in-house editor’s team with the money we will save from DJ deal. I hope with hard work again, we will be able to recover from the blow of loosing DJ news and move up to touch news high in the 3rd quarter 2010.

Also, I must highlight the big interest of many brokerage firms, IBs, other Forex related sites and financial sites in incorporating our news to their offerings. Soon - I hope - a very important site will be publishing our news feed so I very confident in the quality of the service we are providing.

For the time being, my congratulations to Sandra Garcia, Valeria Bednarik, Mauricio Carrillo, Guillermo Alcalá, Vicky Ferrer, Matías Salord and Sandra Michael. They make possible to have a 100% 24/5 Forex focused feed in English and Spanish.

Congratulations guys!

Francesc

Hi everyone,

On August 3rd 2009 I published here an open letter I had just sent to FX Pulp top management in order to put some light to the increasing rumours going around about links between the newborn Cyprus based Forex broker FX Pulp and the recently deceased Crown Forex S.A, currently under liquidation by Switzerland’s FINMA.

The last couple of weeks, FX Pulp has been sending me the documents I’ve been requesting them. I Googled shareholders and board members names and I was not able to find any link between them and Crown Forex S.A.

I also contacted Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CYSEC) to get an official confirmation of the documents received from FX Pulp, but no one from CYSEC has attended my request.

With the lack of proves given by those assuring about the links between both companies and the paperwork provided by FX Pulp and the lack of response from CYSEC, at this time I can not ban FX Pulp from advertising on FXstreet.com so they are very welcome to stay as any other firm that is playing honestly in this market.

If any of you reading this post is able to provide any prove about links between Crown Forex S.A and FX Pulp, please get inmediatly in touch with me at francescATfxstreet.com. Otherwise, case close.

Thanks

Francesc

Hi everyone

Yesterday I published here an e-mail I personally sent to the marketing contact we have at FX Pulp in order to know the truth about the rumours of links between the newborn FX Pulp and the about-to-be-liquidated Crown Forex S.A.

Here you have the response from Said Salem, Managing Director at FX Pulp.

FX Pulp to FXstreet.com - There is no link between FX Pulp and Crown Forex S.A

Once I read Mr. Salem’s response, I sent them an e-mail back requesting to get a full list of board members and shareholders names in order to check them out by myself.

I think it is the only way to make sure that there is no link between both companies.

I’m waiting for their response

I’ll keep you posted

Francesc

This e-mail has been sent today to the marketing representative that deals advertising on FXstreet.com on behalf FX Pulp.

I hope to publish soon their response

Francesc

Open Letter to FX Pulp top executive

Dear Ispeer

Your name has been given to me by Daniela Menascé from our Online Advertising Support team.

Please, resend this e-mail to your firm’s top executive.

There are a lot of rumours going around that former Crown Forex S.A management is now behind the scenes at FX Pulp.

As you may already know, Crown Forex S.A is currently in a bankruptcy process in Switzerland and many traders are being trapped there.

At this time, we do not allow any advertising at FXstreet.com from any company related somehow to Crown Forex S.A management. This will apply till we get more information from the Swiss FINMA about the reasons of Crown Forex S.A liquidation.

As these increasing rumours are not good for FX Pulp nor for FXstreet.com, I would like to get an official statement from your top executive in order to clarify things out.

Thanks in advance

Francesc

note: this e-mail and your response to it are going to be published at my personal blog at http://blogs.fxstreet.com/francesc/ as I consider very important to keep this conversation wide open to everyone.

–
Francesc Riverola
CEO & Founder
http://blogs.fxstreet.com/francesc/
FXstreet.com
FOREXSTREET S.L
Portaferrissa 7, 1er 2ona
Barcelona, 08002
Tel. +34 93 3040495
Fax +34 93 3040496

Hi everyone

I’ve noticed that FINMA has updated the info displayed at

http://www.crownforex.info/

It seems that the process is still far from ending….

Francesc

IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO CLIENTS OF CROWN FOREX SA IN LIQUIDATION
July 30, 2009

Dear clients, dear visitors,

Claims Processing
Since the opening of CROWN FOREX SA’s bankruptcy on May 19, 2009, we have received many statements of claims.

The statements and attached documentation are currently in the process of being analysed. They will be decided upon and a creditors’ plan shall be drafted. Due to the number of documents received, this will last several months.

No further trading
It appeared in the course of the bankruptcy process that a forex trading platform was and may still be illegally operated abroad under the name of CROWN FOREX SA.

Any trading activities on this platform that may have taken place after May 19, 2009 at 8:00 (Swiss time) are not binding upon CROWN FOREX SA, in liquidation.

Investments with Crown Forex SA, in liquidation through third financial intermediaries
It also recently appeared that US financial intermediaries have been collecting funds from investors for alleged further investment with an entity named CROWN FOREX before and after the opening of the bankruptcy of CROWN FOREX SA, in liquidation. Those investors were told that their funds would be held in segregated accounts.

Please note that:

1. since December 9, 2008, Laurent WINKELMANN and Philippe von BREDOW are the only authorized legal representatives of CROWN FOREX SA ; no power of attorney have been delivered to any third person or entity since that date
2. since December 9, 2008 no new client and no new account have been accepted by CROWN FOREX SA
3. since December 9, 2008, Laurent WINKELMANN and Philippe von BREDOW have not authorized any reimbursement to investors in CROWN FOREX SA, in liquidation and that since December 24, 2008, the Swiss Financial market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), in order to insure equal treatment of creditors, has forbidden any reimbursement to investors.
4. since May 19, 2009 at 8:00 (Swiss time), CROWN FOREX SA has suspended its activities and has accepted or received no fund from investors
5. CROWN FOREX SA, in liquidation does not hold segregated bank accounts
6. CROWN FOREX SA, in liquidation does not hold any account with ASSOCIATED BANK in the US
7. CROWN FOREX SA, in liquidation and CROWN FOREX, LLC are two different and separate entities
8. Account statements with false account numbers may have been issued in the name of CROWN FOREX SA in favour of persons who are not registered as client of CROWN FOREX SA, in liquidation. Account statements may therefore not be sufficient to substantiate the existence of a contractual relation or of a claim against CROWN FOREX SA, in liquidation.

Any person having been made to believe anything contrary to the above, may wish to contact the financial intermediary they have dealt with, seek legal advice and/or contact the local enforcement or regulatory Authorities.

The Liquidators of CROWN FOREX SA neither provide advice nor acknowledge receipt of claims from investors.

All relevant further general information that can be publicly disclosed on the bankruptcy of CROWN FOREX SA will be posted on this web site. The FINMA will continue to post on its web site www.finma.ch and in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce www.shab.ch all legal information pertaining to the rights and obligations of the creditors and debtors in the estate of CROWN FOREX SA, in bankruptcy.

Sincerely,

Laurent WINKELMANN - Philippe von BREDOW

NOTTER MEGEVAND & PARTNERS
Place Edouard-Claparède 3
1205 Genève
SWITZERLAND
p.vonbredow@nomea.ch
l.winkelmann@nomea.ch

Hi everyone

I was surprised today to see that Ingot Brokers web site had been removed and it is now a one standing page site. It seems they are freezing any activity to get new clients on board until they get the banking license.

http://www.ingotbrokers.com/

I do not know if this important change in Ingot’s web site was made today, yesterday or a month ago, but I just found it today and I thought it is important enough to highlight it here.

In June 20th 2008, Mr. Richard Bleich, Member of the Board at Ingot Brokers already expressed in this blog Ingot’s will to go for Switzerland license to operate in the Forex Market.

Open letter to FXstreet’s Swiss brokers - Ingot Brokers response

Here you have the text that today appears at Ingot Brokers web site. It is in French. My staff made a translation to English for you:

Dear Customers,

On January 1st 2009, the three authorities composed of the Federal Office of Private Insurance (FOPI), the Swiss Federal Banking Commission (SFBC) and the Supervisory Authority of Laundry, Anti-Money (LBA AdC), gathered under the solely entity of Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).

INGOT Brokers, already as a member of ARIF, has made an important strategic decision to concentrate its activities in Switzerland and, to this end, has launched an application to Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) to obtain a license trading of Real Estate.

We believe that this is a very positive development that will enable us to provide professional services to our future customers in an environment that we highly value. A new website incorporating our future services and benefits of operating in Switzerland, will be developed and installed when receiving approval from the Swiss authorities.

We are grateful to our customers and their understanding and support of this important step forward for our mutual trust, integrity and service.